HELPFUL VOCABULARY TO KNOW:
? prime lord — the seraph who forms the initial pact with the shepard; they are then able to make pacts with multiple 'sub-lords' who will act as support and gain the ability to purify the malevolence.

Quick seraphim trivia:
? seraphim do not have parents, but rather are formed from untainted masses of mana.
? although seraphim are capable of eating and possess the same taste buds as humans, they do not require food to survive.
? most seraphim do not reside in buildings and nowadays they rarely form communities. it is somewhat common, however, for seraphim to grow attached to and accompany close-knit groups of humans— even if they go unseen.
? when engaged in combat against human enemies possessing low/no resonance, seraphim have the advantage of never being targeted due to the enemy's inability to see them.


Well, a midget seraph she may factually be, but one very important thing quickly becomes abundantly clear to the newest shepard and his future squire:

Despite her deceptive small stature, Rukia has absolutely no plans to even bother putting on any sort of pretense for pulling her punches.

"If you get to lament the size of my physical manifestation in this realm, then it's only fair that I get to lament the state of your mental capacity in return," she quips coolly without a single speck of remorse present in her tone.

The sheer swiftness and timing of her razor sharp remark leaves Ichigo with his jaw hanging wide open while in the background Ishida tries his very hardest (and fails quite epically) to disguise what is obviously a snort of laughter as a poorly timed cough.

After making sure to shoot his traitorous cousin what he considers to be a rather forceful poison-laced death glare, the newest shepard quickly turns his head and gaze back towards his teeny prime lord while narrowing his dark brown eyes in her direction, making his evident skepticism and blatant suspicion intentionally visible upon his face.

He finds himself thinking back upon the ceremony earlier in which the two of them had ostensibly forged their pact as seraph and vessel, recalling how he had felt such incredible potential coursing through his veins, what practically seemed like the ability to shape entire worlds—

And now he's supposed to buy into the idea that all of it came from this tiny little thing?

What utter insanity.

While Ichigo remains thoroughly dazed and stuck in what seems to be some sort of ridiculous stupor, Rukia definitively takes it upon herself to break the awkward silence that's conquered the whole room, all while keeping her violet eyes fixed upon the apparent shepard with her jaw clenched in an obviously unamused fashion.

"Since you haven't bothered to ask me yet— and it's likely safe to go ahead and assume that you won't even think to do so— my common name is Rukia," she drawls with a very notable absence of mirth, and the look that she's now giving him is chock-full of nearly tangible displeasure.

Ichigo grunts primitively in his best attempt at some sort of neutral tone, an acknowledgment that skillfully manages not to utilize his new knowledge of her name— something that makes her twitch in apparent irritation, he notices.

Fucking great, the newest shepard thinks to himself despairingly— not only is his prime lord tiny, but she also apparently has a sizable stick jammed up her puny ass.

Ishida suddenly clears his throat in an excessively loud fashion, and it's only at that exact moment Ichigo recalls the fact that his cousin is literally standing right there next to the two of them, somehow having felt awkwardly isolated by himself with Rukia for the past few minutes.

Internally thanking and praising the Five Lords (despite his blatantly disparaging and cursing them only hours earlier in the day), he turns his head to face Ishida and arches a single brow inquisitively in his direction; thankfully, his prime lord follows suit and does the same.

"I'll just go ahead and introduce myself, then— I'm Uryu Ishida," the boy with the glasses says rather smoothly, and he tops his polite greeting off with a slight bow of respect.

Ichigo is so focused on shooting his cousin yet another lethal death glare (one that goes thoroughly ignored, of course) that when Rukia chooses to shove her way right past him in favor of advancing upon his cousin, he winds up literally stumbling off to the side.

Stunned into stillness, the newest shepard simply watches as his prime lord steps forward to offer her hand in greeting to the future squire.

Ishida himself also looks momentarily taken aback— to be fair, neither of them really knew what to expect from a prime lord, much less a from any seraph in general— but he speedily regains his composure and proceeds to extend a long arm and shake hands amicably with the petite seraph.

Despite the pure awkwardness of the situation, Ishida finds himself completely unable to keep both corners of his lips from reflexively quirking upwards; it's undoubtably silly, yes, but the dark-haired boy has always found proper manners to be quite charming in general.

The two of them must be standing there with their hands interlocked for what the newest shepard deems to be far too long, because Ichigo proceeds to shatter the moment into tiny little pieces by letting out what is very obviously a fake cough at top volume.

At the exact same time both the water seraph and his future squire withdraw their respective hands before turning simultaneously and shooting him practically identical patronizing looks in tandem.

Oh, dear god, the shepard thinks to himself hopelessly— there's two of them now.

"It's very nice to make your acquaintance," the dark-haired female says pleasantly, turning her attention back over to his cousin without a moment's hesitation. "It looks like we'll be working together in the future."

Ishida is most definitely confused by Rukia's overt display of going out of her way to pay him attention over Ichigo (who, you know, happens to be the actual shepard himself), but it's not like he'd ever be able to pass up a chance at antagonizing or poking fun at his cousin.

"Seems like it— though I must admit I'm only to serve as a squire."

Rukia instantly shakes her head back and forth in an adamant manner, her posture firm with what can only be labeled as an effortless air of authority.

"Never say that, Uryu."

The prime lord's apparent ease and immediate comfort with the rapid use of his first name in conversation appears to fluster the dark-haired boy somewhat, his cheeks growing slightly pink.

Internally, Ishida wonders incredulously to himself if all seraphim are this incredibly odd; after a fleeting moment or two has passed him by, the future squire comes to the somewhat frightening realization that he's going to find out the answer to that very inquiry soon whether he likes it or not.

"I've only served as a prime lord once before," Rukia begins, speaking directly to him, her voice somehow full of tangible strength.

"—but I will say this: there is no such thing as 'only' a squire. Those who dedicate themselves to purifying the malevolence— especially those who struggle against the inherent limitations upon the resonance that they were born with in order to do so, all for the greater good— are extraordinary and exceptional individuals no matter what."

Ishida's cheeks are blatantly on fire now, having turned a crimson hue that Ichigo himself has never witnessed, even throughout all the years that his cousin was a very young and shy boy; the future squire winds up rapidly swiveling his head to the side, fiddling with his glasses while muttering nearly inaudible words about it not being a big deal or something or other.

"Are you guys done now, or should I leave the room to give you some privacy?"

Ichigo finds himself impulsively asking the totally provocative question to purposely interrupt their little side chat despite being well aware that he's basically dousing what is already a pretty healthy fire with lighter fluid by doing so.

And, as predicted, he gets the exact reaction that he had been thoroughly anticipating from the water seraph— in fact, if looks had the capability to maim and/or kill, Ichigo is downright positive that Rukia's many glares would have had him cold on the floor one hundred times over by now.

Her whole expression hardens only momentarily before it then smooths over effortlessly, easily transitioning alongside her cooling temper as she makes her way back over towards Ichigo. There's not a single trace of fear present in her small stride as she does so, and even at 4'9", she somehow manages to look imposing.

The newest shepard feels all of the muscles within his body begin to tense with apprehension as his prime lord slowly approaches, and he arches both of his brows downwards in a sign of severe displeasure that he hopes will serve as a deterrent.

Lucky for him, she doesn't even attempt to get very close; in fact, his prime lord stops a good number of feet shy of where he's currently standing, plants both of her feet firmly on the ground, and then crosses her arms over her chest while scrutinizing him with her harsh violet gaze.

"…Well, you may be an idiot, but you're obviously a very lucky idiot. From what I can tell just from observing you alone, your latent potential is practically off that charts," she says in a totally nonchalant fashion, almost like they're discussing something as dull and ordinary as the weather outside.

"It… it is?"

Ichigo's heard that fact many times before, but he's never heard it from an actual seraph; his puzzled inquiry comes off in an undeniably dumb fashion, and he pauses for a brief moment before rotating to shoot his cousin a concerned look. The orange-haired shepard feels a sharp pang of guilt inside of his stomach upon noticing that Ishida has pointedly turned his face away, no doubt uncomfortable with this topic in particular.

"Yeah, and I'm assuming that's probably the only thing that got you to where you are right now," she drawls sardonically; by now it's easy to tell that her tone is very much intended to be mocking. His prime lord then makes some kind of vague frustrated hand gesture in the air before speaking again.

"Now, are you going to tell me your name or what, shepard?"

"Oh, so very sorry— I would have thought you'd have caught it while you were eavesdropping on us earlier," Ichigo retorts both coolly and instantaneously; widening violet eyes flash with anger when his entire remark registers with the water seraph.

"It's not my fault you were literally too inept to notice that I was dwelling inside of you," she hisses angrily, her petite nose now scrunching up in what can only be described as an indignant manner. Seemingly losing her patience at an unprecedented pace, Rukia repeats her question once more in a much more hostile tone.

"Now then, shall I just call you 'useless vessel', or would you like to tell me your actual name, shepard?"

Knowing that his hand has ultimately been forced, Ichigo finally relents and spits his name out for her in what he makes damn sure is a palpably petulant tone of voice.

This woman is supposed to be his prime lord?

No fucking way, he thinks— there must have been some kind of mistake.

"Well then," Ishida says both abruptly and loudly, interrupting the newly forming spat between his companions while simultaneously prompting the two of them to both turn their heads and eyes in his direction.

"I'm headed to the market to buy our groceries for the next few days before we depart— don't wait up, you're horrible at shopping anyways— I'll be back in a while and then we'll have dinner."

The future squire makes his exit (or rather, his escape) from the chambers that the two of them share as quickly as humanly possible, and Ichigo's mind rapidly starts concocting ways that he can manage to do the same—

And then it hits him all at once like a bag of bricks that he can't.

As in, ever.

Because now that he and Rukia have forged a pact, she is literally a part of his being; his very body is now the vessel that serves for her to dwell in so that she can avoid being being tainted by the toxic malevolence. A sense of ice-cold dread drips down Ichigo's spine like a slow-moving, viscous liquid when finally he realizes how truly and completely shackled to this seemingly unpleasant woman he really is.

There's been nothing but tangible silence since his cousin made his hasty departure, and the orange-haired shepard is entirely reluctant to break it for any reason whatsoever. His mind is racing at an unprecedented pace, but none of the thoughts passing him by seem to make any real sense; they're simply blurs of sentiments that don't even fully register with his muddled psyche.

Rukia sighs somewhat awkwardly and reaches upwards, stretching her tiny arms as far as she possibly can. The resplendent blue and white finery that she dons moves with her, shining elegantly as it does so, clearly made from some type of silken fabric. Ichigo stealthily roves his eyes up and down her form twice more, searching for any sign of her weapon.

Maybe it's under her clothes?

Maybe she uses magic?

Maybe—

"I summon it," she interrupts his inquisitive train of thought in a dry tone of voice, finally becoming the one to shatter the long stretch of silence. When he just stares at her like a complete idiot in return, she sighs exasperatedly and rolls her eyes dramatically before elaborating for him.

"My weapon— the one that you keep searching me for with your eyes like a total creep whenever you think I'm not looking. I don't carry it on me because I can summon it at will."

The newest shepard's face turns a bright red hue after realizing the complete failure of his utterly pathetic attempt at stealthy behavior while observing her. After being momentarily taken aback by her sharp instincts and keen perception, he rallies rather quickly and bristles visibly in response.

"I'm kinda new to this shit, alright? I wasn't sure if you were able to do that sort of… thing," he says, the heat of his cheeks beyond glaringly obvious at this point.

"Don't worry, I can tell that the first part is true for sure," his female companion drawls apathetically, and Ichigo tightens both of his fists reflexively in sheer irritation.

Unfortunately for the newest shepard (and, in turn, every single individual within his vicinity), he's not nearly as skilled at calming his fiery temper as his prime lord is her own— and that fact is what will ultimately end up spelling disaster for this entire scenario.

"Whatever," he simply snaps back in an irate manner at last. "I don't know how all of this works, so just… I guess stay there until Ishida comes back and prepares dinner for the two of us."

"The three of us," she automatically corrects him promptly the moment that he finishes speaking.

Ichigo arches both of his brows upwards, looking straight at her with perplexed brown eyes.

"…Excuse me?"

"The three of us," Rukia repeats with ease, staring right back into his gaze without an iota of shyness.

"Did you seriously not even consider the concept that I might eat?"

"You, eat? Who cares if you do that? Seraphim don't have to eat to survive, so there's no point in you doing it, right?" The shepard volleys right back at her angrily, practically gnashing his teeth at this point in their disastrous interaction.

The dark look that overtakes Rukia's facial features is likely one that those close to her could interpret— however, needless to say, Ichigo definitely can't do that given his lack of knowledge and insight into her psyche. It winds up not mattering one bit when she elects to drop the expression a mere moment later in favor of adopting one of simple, utter iciness in its place.

"…I'm not to eat, then?"

The tiny water seraph verbalizes her question in what is clearly a very strained tone of voice— and then, like a fuse has somehow been lit, she continues on without allowing him to even attempt at getting a word in edgewise.

"What's next, shepard, hm? I suppose since seraphim technically don't need sleep, you'll force me to stay awake all the time and take every night watch during the journey that is to come?"

Rukia's violet eyes have a wild look to them now, her body language openly hostile as she pushes onward while easily ignoring all of Ichigo's futile endeavors to interrupt her.

"Oh— and how about the fact that I can't actually collapse physically from exhaustion? After all, if I'm merely to serve as tool for battle, I can also serve as a your tool for many other things, no?"

The temperature in the room seems to have dropped several degrees over the course of only a few minutes, and the shepard has no doubt whatsoever that it's due to the inadvertent influence of his water seraph's power.

"Don't tell me, you useless shepard, that you intend to to work me until I surpass a limit I'm not even sure exists— simply because I've now been forcibly bonded to you?!"

The prime lord's voice ascends quickly in both pitch and volume throughout the entire length of her speech, and about halfway through the rant her tiny body begins shaking with visible anger. By the time that she spits out the very last of her sentiments, her entire face is flushed red with fury and her jaw clenched tighter than she ever thought possible.

Ichigo's brown eyes are blown wide open, but they're not exactly what any sensible person would ever deem to be sympathetic in appearance; they're more hyper-vigilant, as if he's treating the situation like he's dealing with a dangerous, wounded, and cornered animal.

Now that it's become totally obvious she's finished speaking, a thick, heavy silence fills the atmosphere of the room; neither one of them dares to move or speak for what feels like an eternity.

The torturous stillness lingers in what has to be the most agonizing way possible, and it's Rukia who finally elects to put an end to it by abruptly disappearing in what is now a familiar burst of green light.

The only thought that runs through Ichigo's mind is good riddance.